


a synthetic design

by girlmarvel



Series: Engineered Love [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Artificial Intelligence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23086546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlmarvel/pseuds/girlmarvel
Summary: The AI cocks its head and Kili swears he can almost hear an accompanying whirr. He knows any sound is in his imagination, implanted there by thousands of sci-fi movies, because FL1 has been designed to be soundless. The team wanted it as realistic as possible.
Relationships: Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: Engineered Love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1659286
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	a synthetic design

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted for GatheringFiki's SpringFRE 2016, prompt 6. Ex Machina AU

02.05.36

The AI cocks its head and Kili swears he can almost hear an accompanying whirr. He knows any sound is in his imagination, implanted there by thousands of sci-fi movies, because FL1 has been designed to be soundless. The team wanted it as realistic as possible. Kili thinks they should have scheduled the voice installation process sooner than. The quiet tracking of its eyes unsettles him.

19.05.36

FL1’s design started like every other AI’s construction. Sketch – digital – model – synthetic. The hairstyle went through several evolutions but the eyes remained relatively unchanged through the entire process. Light blue, large, framed in dark gold lashes. ‘Steady gaze – tell the pers. programmers’ is the note scribbled in the sketch’s margins.

30.05.36

Kili watches FL1 run the fingers of his - FL1 is a he now, no longer an it, it-ness lost once Kili’s fitted the face - right hand, already covered in synth skin placed by Kili himself the day before, over the metals of his other arm.

Head bowed, the AI appears to be examining the intricate mechanics housed by the mesh casements. Kili wants to know if he wishes his body was completely covered, that if being partially covered somehow makes the mechanical bits peeking out feel bare. Kili wonders if he can feel self-conscious at all.

01.06.36

“Couldn’t have picked an easier hairstyle?” the fabricator jokes, elbowing him in the ribs as they stand together in the lunch line. “Don’t see why it couldn’t just have a crew cut?”

“My orders from on high were realistic. Do you see any crewcuts around here?” Kili elbows him back.

“Still, curls are hard mate.”

“Be thankful you have a job at all,” Kili replies as they sit down. “We could just leave them all metal.”

06.06.36

The memo pinging on his monitor tells him that voice installation and testing were successfully completed at 1400 hours. Kili is scheduled for a muscular assessment in a couple days to make sure FL1’s facial movements align with his new ability to speak but Kili thinks he’ll go down tomorrow and find out for himself which accent and inflection programs were finally settled on. Today will be filled with diagnostics and checking and re-checking vowel stresses and he’d only be in the way.

12.06.36

FL1 studies himself in the mirror Kili holds up to him, turning his head to each side. With his new hair installed the AI’s physical fabrication is complete. Kili will monitor him closely in the upcoming weeks to verify that all the synthetics are operating as intended.

“What do you think?” Kili ventures.

FL1 reaches up and runs his fingers through the wavy strands, looking up at Kili with a small smile.

“I think I like it.”

19.06.36

Kili’s designed hundreds of facial interfaces before. He doesn’t understand why this one pulls at him so much. He never knows how to respond to his coworkers’ inquiries about his design choices. What can he say? I dreamt of him. What excuse can he give for the dusting of freckles over shoulders that have never seen the sun?

21.06.36

Kili can’t help the laugh that barks out of him when FL1 – sorry not FL1 anymore – when Fili tells him he’s picked his new name.

“They said I could chose a less numerical designation,” Fili explains.

“Didn’t they give you a file of baby names to pick from?” Kili asks.

“I like Fili. It is similar in sight to my original designation.”

“It’s also very similar to my name,” Kili grins.

“Yes, that’s why I picked it. I liked the feel of Kili. It will do well for me,” Fili says, leafing through the haphazard pile of sketches on Kili’s desk.

Kili thinks he should write a thank you note to whichever programmer designed FL1’s vocal patterns, for gifting him the way his own name sounds tumbling from Fili’s mouth.

29.06.36

“Who am I based on?”

Kili looks up from his computer screen to find Fili leaning against the doorframe in his office.

“Pardon?”

“Who am I based on?” Fili repeats. “Also may I sit?”

“Oh yeah sure, pull up a chair,” Kili gestures to the conference chairs behind him. Fili grabs a one, pulling it up next to Kili’s desk and settling in. He looks at Kili, head cocked.

Kili wants to ask the personality team if that particular tic - the curious head tilt, the mannerism he sees sometimes in his dreams - was deliberately programmed or if it’s something Fili picked up off a personnel member.

“You want to know who you’re based on?” Kili clarifies.

“Yes. Physically I mean. If I was a person, a real person, my physical attributes would be based on genetics from my parents. As this is impossible for me, I was wondering who I am based on or if you used an algorithm for my physical traits.”

“I don’t know. I guess I dreamt of you,” Kili blurts out, immediately regretting it when Fili’s lips quirk up.

“That is not quite the process I was expecting,” Fili says, smiling.

“I don’t really have a scientific process for selecting features. I’m not on the team for my analytical background that’s for sure,” Kili runs a hand through his unruly hair and then sighs. “I just started sketching a face. I’m sorry, that’s probably very disappointing to you.”

“Not at all,” Fili assures. “It’s very interesting. You sketched me. That is the answer.”

“You know, I’m sure the sketch is still in my notebook somewhere. Would you like to see it?” Kili asks, already rummaging through the drawers next to his desk.

“Yes!” Fili beams. “I would like that very much.”

12.07.36

“What made you want to be an artist?” Fili asks. Kili stops what he’s doing for a moment, endeared by the Fili’s tendency to ask him personal questions during evaluations – he knows it’s only him, he checked with the other technicians - before continuing to rub the pads of his fingers across Fili’s scalp, evaluating the hair joins’ uniformity.

“Um, lots of things I guess,” Kili finally answers. “I’ve always liked art.”

“You like pizza too but you did not become a pizza maker,” Fili says.

Kili chuckles, “Yeah, you got me there. Well I was always drawing when I was a little kid but uh, my mom loved art too. She used to take me to all these museums when I was younger. Every weekend really. Classics, modern, sculpture gardens, you name it. It was our thing, just the two of us.”

“That sounds lovely,” Fili says quietly.

“Yeah, it was. I used to look up at all these paintings and wish that I could create something as beautiful as them one day,” Kili says.

“I wish I could see them.”

“See them?” Kili asks, dropping his hands from Fili’s hair down to rest on his shoulders.

“The masterpieces that you love.”

“Maybe one day,” Kili pats his shoulder. “Maybe one day.”

17.09.36

The memo is on his desktop when he powers it up for the morning. Still scrubbing the sleep from his eyes, for a moment he thinks he must still be dreaming. He closes his eyes and takes a moment to center himself but when he opens his eyes again the words remain unchanged on the screen.

FL1 designated to decommissioned status on 01.10.36. All valuable data gathered.

18.09.36

Kili wonders if Fili knows, if the AI will even be told, if he’ll be given time to contemplate his own end or if everything will just fade to black.

19.09.36

His official title is Design & Fabrication Specialist. He doesn’t have anywhere near the clearance necessary to access Fili’s performance evaluations and he’s worried that asking too many questions might draw attention to him. As such his only information is snatched from overheard lunch room conversations.

…overriding personality programming…unnecessary…socialization protocols…

Kili feels sick.

20.09.36

Kili sees that Fili has been told about his future the second he walks into the room. The AI is sitting at the small desk in his “bedroom,” staring straight ahead at the wall. He doesn’t acknowledge Kili hovering in the door way until Kili clears his throat. Fili looks over to him slowly, and Kili instinctively knows that Fili would be crying if he had been furnished with the necessary tear ducts.

“Hey,” Kili says weakly. Fili gives him a small nod before turning back to the wall. Kili sees that Fili has pinned some of the prints that Kili had given him after their conversation about art to the wall above his desk. The first tendrils of an idea begin to bloom in his mind.

22.09.36

The answer sits in the set of Fili’s shoulders and the longing in his eyes but Kili has to be sure.

“Yes,” Fili says, before the entire question is even laid between them.

Kili reaches out for Fili’s hand. “Good.”

24.09.36

The face is laughably easy. There are plenty of prefabrications in the store room. It takes Kili less than ten minutes to print a secure identification badge.

27.09.36

Kili wishes he had paid more attention to the details of Fili’s circuitry layout but there is little time for research now. He knows the general area where the tracking chip is located and can only apologize for the large incision across the back of Fili’s thigh. There’ll be time for mending the synthetic properly later. Kili curses himself for never considering the implications of adding pain sensors to an AI’s skin grafts, too caught up in the challenge of it to predict what the experiment might produce.

28.09.36

He can’t allow himself to relax, knows that they won’t be safe until there’s an entire country behind them, but he gives a sigh of relief all the same when Fili’s hand reaches for his across the center console. The sight of the Durin Corporation logo shrinking in the rear view mirror is their first sign of hope.

–.–.–

The two stand together in front of the gilt-framed painting, hands clasped between them.

“It’s beautiful,” the blond man says, eyes tracing the patterns of delicate brush strokes.

“Yeah,” his partner agrees, turning towards him. “Beautiful.”


End file.
